From the Reliability

Professionals at GPAllied

Are You Doing

Too Much PM?
16 Ways to Save Time and Money On
Preventive Maintenance

Inside:
The No. 1 Law You Should Know
The Real Truth About PM
The First Question You Should Ask
And much more...

A Must-Read Guide
for Maintenance and Reliability Leaders
GPAllied © 2010 • 1
Copyright Notice
Copyright 2011 GPAllied, LLC. All rights reserved. Any unauthorized use, sharing, reproduction,
or distribution of these materials by any means, electronic, mechanical, or otherwise, is strictly
prohibited. No portion of these materials may be reproduced in any manner whatsoever, without
the express written consent of the publisher.

To obtain permission, please contact:

GPAllied, LLC
4200 Faber Place Drive
Charleston, SC 29405

Phone 888.335.8276
Fax 843.414.5779

info@gpallied.com
www.gpallied.com

6th Edition
April 2011

2 • GPAllied © 2010
Table of Contents
1. The No. 1 Law You Should Know........................................................ 5

2. The Real Truth About PM.................................................................... 5

3. If It Isn’t Broken, Don’t Fix It................................................................ 6

4. Beware of PM Creep........................................................................... 6

5. The First Question to Ask About PM.................................................... 7

6. Consider PdM First.............................................................................. 7

7. Get Data You Can Trend..................................................................... 8

8. Check the History................................................................................ 9

9. Approach Vendor Recommendations with Caution............................. 9

10. Find out the Reasons Why................................................................ 9

11. Do the Math....................................................................................... 9

12. Eliminate Pencil-Whipping............................................................... 10

13. Apply the 6:1 Rule........................................................................... 10

14. Consider the Time Factor................................................................ 11

15. Why Maintenance People Don’t Like PM........................................ 11

16. Get a Professional, Independent

Evaluation of Your PM Program....................................................... 12

Summary .............................................................................................. 13

GPAllied © 2010 • 3
Are You Doing Too Much PM?
16 Ways to Save Time and Money on
Preventive Maintenance
Unless you have been living on another planet
for the last fifty years, you already know that
the case for doing Preventive Maintenance
(PM) is watertight if focused on the correct
failure modes.
Done right, PM will preserve, protect, and
extend the life of your equipment – and reduce
overall maintenance cost.
So here’s the question: Why are most
maintenance and reliability professionals so
unhappy with their PM programs?
Surprisingly enough, according to our
research, we have found that just 22% of
maintenance managers are satisfied with
their current programs. Their two biggest
complaints are listed below
PM Consumes Too Many Resources
Many maintenance managers believe their
PM program is simply bigger than it should
4 • GPAllied © 2010
be. They find it difficult to execute their PM
program and their other work at the same time.
Also, they feel like they do not have enough
manpower to manage all of their PMs along
with other important maintenance tasks.
Lack of Results
Despite all of the time and money being
spent on PM, there are still way too many
unexpected equipment failures.
Case in point: During a chemical plant tour,
the frustrated maintenance manager said, “We
just PM’d that machine, and it failed a short
time later anyway. So why didn’t we catch the
problem with the PM?”
Why indeed.
In a nutshell, the problem with PM is that it
takes too much time and produces too little
results.
This guide will address these concerns, as well increasing PM hurts the bottom line.
as other common factors that lead to isues
with PM programs. Out goal is to give you the The reason? It is very simple. Most PM
tools you need to implement and maintan an procedures require that the equipment be

effective PM program. shut down. That means uptime goes down,

so production output eventually goes down as
well. Meanwhile, maintenance costs go up.
1. The No. 1 Law You Should Know
The number one law of economics you need to
So, how much PM is too much?
know is based on a principle discovered over
200 years ago. You have probably heard of it
According to a private study, best practice
– it is called the Law of Diminishing Returns.
programs generate 15% of their maintenance
work from PM inspections. Another 15% is
As any good MBA student can tell you, this law
corrective work identified by those inspections.
states that as one production factor increases
Therefore, PM should account for about 30%
and the others remain constant, overall
of your total maintenance work flow.
production decreases after a certain point.

2. The Real Truth About PM

In plain English, this means that as you By definition, all PMs are time-based, meaning
increase PM, production output eventually either calendar time or operating time dictates
decreases. The following chart illustrates this when an asset should be inspected, cleaned,
idea: adjusted, replaced or reconditioned.

But, is there really a direct relationship

between the time equipment spends in service
and the likelihood that it will fail?

In short, the answer is no.

The truth is, most equipment failures are not

age-related. In fact, for complex systems, the
majority of failures will occur at random.

Consider the facts. The Failure Patterns

graphic demonstrates failure probabilities
relative to the age of the equipment itself. This
gives us a true picture of how equipment fails
when it is maintained and operated correctly.
You see, there is a fine line between doing
too much, too little, and just the right amount
of PM. Clearly, there is a point at which

GPAllied © 2010 • 5
 Take a pump, for example. Here are the five
most common mistakes that can happen
whenever a pump is taken apart and put back
together again for the purpose of PM:

• Bearings are damaged

• Shaft is not properly aligned
• Pump is not bolted down properly
• Seals are not properly installed and
adjusted
• Lubricants are contaminated

As a result, when the pump is turned back on,

Note: It is important to understand that this
bad things can happen.
data comes from the airline industry, where
maintenance and operations standards are
The dirty little secret in maintenance is that a
exceptionally high. That gives us a true picture
significant number of equipment problems are
of how equipment fails when it is maintained
caused by maintenance itself.
and operated correctly.

Stated a little differently, PM can trigger the

The reality is that 89% of equipment failures
very same failures it is intended to prevent.
are not age-related. Therefore, there is no
amount of time-based rebuild/replace/refurbish
That is why it is important to avoid excessive
that can manage these failures effectively.
and unnecessary tinkering.

This is why using time as the primary basis

The preferred order is:
for your maintenance strategy is inherently
1. Running (full load)
flawed. It will have very little impact on overall
2. Running (no load)
reliability.
3. Idle
4. Idle (minimally invasive)
From a risk standpoint, it is much safer to
5. Idle (invasive)
assume that equipment failures can happen
6. Disassembled
at any time. In other words, move from a time-
based repair/replace/rebuild to a time-based
inspection.
4. Beware of PM Creep
The vast majority of PM programs were not
3. If It Isn’t Broken, Don’t Fix It
properly planned, designed, or engineered up
Many PMs are highly invasive procedures that
front. Quite simply, they have evolved over
can disrupt and disturb stable systems.
time.

6 • GPAllied © 2010
Consider what happens whenever a critical
piece of equipment fails. Frequently, the boss
says, “Make sure this never happens again!”
In order to do that, maintenance adds more
PMs: more cleaning, more lubrication, more
inspections. Another failure? Another PM.
Before long, the PM program is bigger than it
needs to be.
Unchecked, PM creep is a major source of
waste and excess costs.
The solution? Have a team that regularly
reviews and removes unnecessary PMs from
the system.
5. The First Question to Ask About PM
All PMs are not created equal. In fact, you
might be surprised to learn how much PM is
done every day that does not add any real
value. According to Forbes magazine:
“One out of every three dollars spent on
preventive maintenance is wasted.”
You see, you can become really good at
doing PMs that do not add value. Here is the
question to ask yourself:
“Does this PM help us preserve, protect, or
increase our manufacturing output?”
If the answer is no, and it is not required for
safety or administrative purposes, stop doing it.
By simply recognizing and eliminating waste,
you can free up the time and money you need
for the maintenance activities that really do
add value.
6. Consider PdM First
No matter what kind of industry you are in,
predictive maintenance (PdM) is almost always
more cost-effective than sensory inspections
(look, touch, listen) as your first line of defense
against equipment failures.
Based on studies done in major industries
including chemicals, paper, metals, automotive
and power generation, something interesting
happens as more equipment is added to the
PdM program:
Overall maintenance costs go down.
Consider the graphic above. As you can see,
there is a direct correlation between high levels
of PdM and low overall maintenance costs –
measured as a percent of the Replacement
Asset Value (RAV).
On the other hand, the data also shows that
increasing the size of a replacement PM
program directly results in higher maintenance
costs. The graph on the next page illustrates
this idea. Why is this the case?
PdM inspections can identify problems much
earlier on the failure curve than PM. So, PdM
gives you more time to plan, schedule and
make the repairs – and avoid unscheduled
downtime.
GPAllied © 2010 • 7

And that is really the secret – PdM drives more
planned work. What that means is:
• Jobs are done faster, safer, and at a lower
cost.
• As shown in studies, a well-planned job
takes only half as much time to execute as
an unplanned job.
• Each dollar invested in planning saves
three to five dollars during execution.
Remember, most PdM inspections require
equipment to be up and running. This means
downtime for maintenance is minimized
– a key issue at plants where the value of
downtime is $5,000, $10,000, $20,000 or more
an hour.
8 • GPAllied © 2010
For all of these reasons and
more, be sure to consider
PdM technologies first
before adding more PM.
7. Get Data You Can Trend
In the past, maintenance
was viewed simply as a
repair function. Not any more.
Today, maintenance is a highly sophisticated
process driven by one key factor: information.
One of the primary goals of modern
maintenance is to collect and analyze
equipment information, and then decide when
to intervene.
This is why PM should provide you with real
data that you can trend and analyze over
time. You want PMs that give you quantitative
measurements you can do something with, not
just somebody’s opinion.
Start with the equipment itself and ask
yourself: “This can fail, so can I measure
it?”
If so, do it. Write it on the PM. Maybe
you just need to record the voltage or the
pressure. Or maybe you want physical
measurements so you can see how
equipment wears over time.
What you do not want are the PMs that
say “Go inspect pump.” That is where
someone will walk out in the plant, look at
the equipment, and not tell you anything.
Get rid of this type of PM and make them lean,
mean, value-added PMs.
One suggestion is to measure Mean Time
Between Failures (MTBF) to see if the labor
expended on PM is effective or not remember
that you cannot perform PM on equipment that
continues to break down. You must restore the
equipment to a maintable level first, then apply
PM.
8. Check the History
Many machine rebuilds are performed on
a rigid schedule, regardless of the asset’s
condition.
Case in point: One maintenance manager
admitted his crews had just spent a full day
replacing parts on a machine as scheduled
– despite the fact that it had just been
refurbished two weeks before.
9. Approach Vendor Recommendations with Caution
There are plenty of reasons to be skeptical
about maintenance recommendations from
Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs).
For example:
• Vendors usually are not experts about your
plant and production processes.
• Vendors do not know all the details of your
plant’s operating conditions.
• Vendors do not always consider the skill
sets of your workforce.
So what do vendors know? Their equipment!
As a result, they tend to over-prescribe
maintenance to ensure their equipment makes
it through the warranty period. Very few PMs
from vendor recommendations are focused on
specific failure modes and their early detection
or prevention.
After all, they are not the ones paying for your
labor, and it is easy to spend someone else’s
time and money on PM overkill.
Do not forget that selling spare parts is nearly
always more profitable than selling the original
equipment. There is built-in motivation for
vendors to steer you towards buying excessive
spare parts.
10. Find Out the Reason Why
When PMs identify equipment problems,
instead of asking, “how fast can we fix this?”,
the question should be “why did this break?”
It is important to discover root causes, not just
symptoms.
11. Do the Math
If the annualized cost of a PM activity –
including the total value of labor, materials and
downtime – exceeds the cost of a potential
failure, it is the wrong PM activity.
Remember that the value of downtime can
be huge.
GPAllied © 2010 • 9
12. Eliminate Pencil-Whipping
The practice of pencil-whipping, or signing
off on work that has not been done, is
commonplace at some plants. However, this is
serious business and should not be allowed.
Here’s the deal: Falsifying records and making
false statements is illegal.
It is not just the person making the false entry
who can be held liable; managers, supervisors,
co-workers, and the company itself can be
punished, as well.
Be sure everyone clearly understands the
legal requirements for completing maintenance
records. Lay out a clear disciplinary policy
for violators, and investigate any suspicious
incidents.
13. Apply the 6:1 Rule
If your PM inspections are not generating
much corrective work, that is a warning sign.
You see, corrective work is your return on
investment in PM – that is where you get your
money back.
Specifically, low corrective work means low
return on investment.
Remember, the main goal of PM is not to
prevent equipment failures. It is to prevent the
consequences of failures.
How? PM should detect problems while they
are still small and easy to fix. This allows you
time to plan and schedule the repair work and
avoid extended downtimes.
A good metric to track is PM inspection time
10 • GPAllied © 2010
versus correction time using the 6:1 rule. This
rule states if you do not find something wrong
every 6 times you perform the inspection, you
should question a couple of different aspects of
the PM inspection.
#1 – Question whether or not the inspection
method being applied is appropriate for the
specific problem. Perhaps the reason you were
not finding anything is because you were not
looking for the right thing.
#2 – Question the methods by which the
inspection is being conducted. Perhaps
the reason you were not finding anything
is because you were not performing the
inspection correctly.
#3 – Question the frequency of the inspection.
The inspection interval should be a little less
than half of the time required for the problem to
enter the system and fail catastrophically. This
gives you a high chance of seeing the problem
at least twice before the failure occurs.
In the end, inspection intervals are not a
function of how many times you have or have
not found a problem. They are a function of
how quickly the defect propagates to failure.
Keep in mind, if your PM program, RCA
program and craft skills are all excellent, the
number of defects identified in your inspection
program will decrease over time. In essence,
when you are identifying and eliminating root
causes of problems and you are not generating
more defects as a result of insufficient craft
skills, there will be fewer problems to find.
Does this mean you decrease the frequency
of the inspections? Absolutely not! Those your car at 3,000 miles, it is probably not going
improvements you made have no bearing on to break down the next day.
the speed of propagation of defects.
However, you cannot defer PM if you want to
have an effective reliability program. PM may
14. Consider the Time Factor
not be the most urgent or exciting work you do,
Do you struggle to find the time to perform
but it is definitely among the most important.
PMs? Is there a significant number of PMs not
being completed on time? Are PMs frequently
deferred?
15. Why Maintenance People Don’t Like PM
What is the first thing your maintenance crews
If so, that’s another red flag.
think when they hear the term “PM”?

All PMs are time-based, so it is important to do

Would you say, “boring”?
them “on time.” This means that a PM should
be done within a timeframe of plus or minus
Let’s take a look at the three main types of
10% of its due date.
maintenance work:

For example, if a PM is scheduled every thirty

• Routine maintenance – including PM
days, it should be completed within a three-day
and PdM inspections, lubrication, etc.
window of the due date. The following chart
• Backlog relief – dealing with
illustrates:
investigations, repairs, and restoration
activities.
• Emergency response – immediate
action to address breakdowns.

Here is a suggestion: put your best

troubleshooters and maintenance “heroes”
in emergency response, put the methodical,
disciplined workers on PM; put new people on
backlog.

This will send a clear message to your

entire organization about the importance of
preventive maintenance.
Frankly, one of the hidden problems of PM
is that there is no immediate, observable
As the father of modern management, Peter
consequence of not doing it.
Drucker, once said:

For example, if you do not change the oil in

“The productivity of work is not the

GPAllied © 2010 • 11
responsibility of the worker, but of the
manager.”
16. Get a Professional, Independent Evaluation of
Your PM Program
A lot of companies know they need to
downsize – or “right-size” – their PM programs.
The problem though, is that they do not have
the time, tools, or processes they need to do it.
That is why firms like GPAllied offer formal, in-
depth PM evaluations.
The process begins with loading your key PM
data into custom software analysis tools. Then
the PMs are sorted, reviewed and evaluated
according to their content.
The results can be eye-popping. Take a look
at the table below results from a recent PM
evaluation involving 20,000 PMs at a steel mill:
12 • GPAllied © 2010
Now you can see the opportunities to save
time and money – in real dollars:
• Save $716,010 by eliminating the non-
value added PMs or reassigning them to
operations.
• Replace $846,660 worth of PMs with more
cost-effective PdM.
• Reengineer $786,630 worth of PMs so
they truly add value.
In sum, over half of all the PM work at this
plant could be stopped – or replaced with PdM
– without consequences.
And that is just the tip of the iceberg. That is
why an independent evaluation of your PM
program is the fastest, easiest, surest way to
get your costs under control.
For more details about GPAllied’s PM
Evaluations (PMEs), call 888.335.8276 or send
an email to info@gpallied.com.
Summary
It all comes down to this: PM is a business, so
it should be run like a business.
Simply put, every PM work order is an
authorization to spend money. That is why it is
important to do the least amount of work at the
least cost that will still meet your expectations
for reliability.

Now you know the 16 Ways to Save Time and

Money on Preventive Maintenance, and you
can begin applying these practices to your
organization to improve your bottom line.

For more recommendations on products and

services that will help you reach your goals in
maintenance and reliability, contact:

GPAllied, LLC
4200 Faber Place Drive
Charleston, SC 29405 USA

Phone 888.335.8276
Fax 843.414.5779
info@gpallied.com | www.gpallied.com

GPAllied © 2010 • 13
About GPAllied , LLC
GPAllied is a joint venture with General and allows for global implementation never
Physics Corporation, a global performance before realized by the industry. The result
improvement solutions provider of sales is the joining of People, Processes, and
and technical training, e-Learning solutions, Technologies in one total package never
management consulting and engineering before realized - now available to the global
services, and Allied Reliability, Inc., a global marketplace.
engineering firm specializing in training,
predictive maintenance and reliability
engineering.
North America • Latin America • Europe
GPAllied provides the most diverse reliability • Middle East • Asia-Pacific
and operations consulting and services
globally available today. With offices in the World Headquarters
Americas, Europe, and the Asia-Pacific region,
4200 Faber Place Drive
GPAllied has extensive experience in the
specialty fields of Lean, Reliability Engineering, Charleston, SC 29405
Six Sigma, Condition Monitoring, Leadership o. 888.335.8276 | f. 843.414.5779
and Change Management, Maintenance
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Development, and Maintenance Craft Skills
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GPAllied serves clients in asset-intensive
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Legal Notice
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neither the author nor the publisher assumes
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GPAllied © 2010 • 15
 GPAllied, LLC
4200 Faber Place Drive ▪ Charleston, SC 29405 USA
Phone 888.335.8276 ▪ Fax 843.414.5779
www.GPAllied.com ▪ info@GPAllied.com